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The risk of giving mercy

· Mass at Santa Marta ·

June 5, 2017

In giving safe haven to persecuted Jews
during the second World War, Pius xii offered an example of how to perform acts
of mercy: through sharing, feeling compassion for another person’s suffering,
taking personal risks, without fear of derision or misunderstandings. At Mass
at Santa Marta on Monday, 5 June, Pope Francis held up his predecessor as a
courageous model of mercy for Christians to follow. He also urged the faithful
to examine their conscience and to rediscover and to put into practice “the 14
corporal and spiritual works of mercy”.

For his reflection, Francis began with the
day’s first reading, taken from the Book of Tobit (1:3; 2:1-8). It presents “an
entire story, but today it speaks to us about what Tobit was like — Tobit,
Tobias’ father — what his life of faith was like: a man of belief”. Perhaps “it
may seem at first that he boasts a bit”,
the Pope noted, “but no, it is not so”.

Simply put,
“it is a story with some bad moments and at the end there is a message”.
And “today this passage speaks to us of Tobit’s testimony, that merciful
witness”. Tobit, Francis continued, “performs works of mercy”. The text in fact, reads: “I, Tobit, walked in
the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of my life, and I performed
many acts of charity to my brethren and countrymen who went with me into the
land of Assyria, to Nineveh” — because he had been a prisoner, a slave in
Nineveh, the Pope noted.

In short, Tobit was “a wealthy man, but he
was generous”, the Pontiff said. “During
the feast of Pentecost he had a good dinner prepared, and before sitting down
at the table he told his son to go out and look for a poor Jewish brother and
to invite him to dinner; he performed a work of mercy”. And then, the Pope
continued, “the son came — he was happy; it was a day of celebration — and said
that they had killed a Jewish brother”.
Immediately Tobit “got up, left the dinner intact, then went to the square,
removed the man from the square and carried him to a room, waiting for sunset
to bury him”. And in the end, the passage reads: “When I returned I washed
myself”, Tobit says, “and ate my food in
sorrow”.

Tobit has therefore put into practice “a work
of mercy, one of the 14 corporal and
spiritual works of mercy”, Francis explained. And “in the list of the works of
mercy that the Church gives us, this is the last one: praying to God for the
living and the dead, and therefore also to bury the dead”. For this very reason, the Pope observed, “I
would like to speak today about the works of mercy”.

“A work of mercy”, he explained, “means not
only sharing what I have”. Of course,
“this is very important, and Tobit shared his money, because he was rich and
gave alms”. But “he also shared friendship:
he invited the poor to dinner”. Therefore, the Pontiff cautioned, it is not
enough simply “to share, but to feel compassion, that is: to suffer with those
who suffer”.

Moreover, he pointed out, “a work of mercy is
not something to alleviate the conscience: a good work so I am more at ease, I
take a load off my back. No!”.
Performing a work of mercy also means “feeling the pain of others”,
because “sharing and compassion go together”. Therefore, “merciful is he who
knows how to share and also to feel compassion for other people’s problems”.

And
here, Francis suggested a series of questions for an examination of conscience:
“Do I know how to share? Am I generous? When I see a person who is suffering,
who is in trouble, do I also suffer? Do I know how to put myself in the shoes
of others, in situations of suffering?”.
The words of Tobit are eloquent: “I ate with sorrow”. They accurately
express the idea of “sharing and feeling compassion. This is the first characteristic,
the first way, the first consequence of a work of mercy: I share, I feel
compassion”.

“But
then there is another thing”, the Pope stressed. In fact, he emphasized that
“performing works of mercy sometimes means taking risks”. To illustrate his point, the Pope again
turned to the day’s reading from the Book of Tobit. “My neighbors laughed at me and said, ‘He is
no longer afraid that he will be put to death for doing this; he once ran away,
and here he is burying the dead again!’”.

Thus, Francis noted, “one often takes
risks” in order to perform a work of mercy .
“Let us think about Rome in the midst of war: about those who took
risks, beginning with Pius xii, to hide Jews, so that they were not killed, so
that they would not be deported. They risked their lives! But it was a work of
mercy, to save those people’s lives!”. That is why one must also “take risks”.

In
this reflection on what it takes to perform authentic works of mercy, the
Pontiff also indicated the possibility that “at times”, a well-intentioned
person may end up “becoming an object of mockery”. This is the case with Tobit,
who states: “my neighbors laughed at me”. Perhaps they called him “crazy” and
looked at him askew for continuing to do these gestures for others, despite
being “persecuted”. As if to say that Tobit
“does not know how to live well...”.

But Tobit’s story, the Pope affirmed, indicates for us the “three characteristics”,
the “three features of the works of mercy”: sharing and feeling compassion for
others, taking risks and being prepared to face derision. Tobit, continued the Pope, “is not like the
rich man clothed in purple whom Jesus
speaks about in the Gospel, who feasted and ignored poor Lazarus who was
starving at the door of his palace; he knew he was there, but ignored
him”. Tobit, on the other hand, knows
how “to share and feel compassion”. And he also is willing “to take risks: one
always takes risks and, as I have said, at times the risks are ugly”. Moreover,
we must “know that if we perform works of mercy, someone might say, ‘this man
is crazy, this woman is crazy: instead of being calm, comfortable at home, he
or she goes to the hospital, goes here, goes there...’”.

“Works of mercy”, said the Pontiff, “are
the way to find mercy”. He explained:
“In the Beatitudes, Jesus says, ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
obtain mercy’”. Moreover, the Pope
added, he “who is capable of performing a work of mercy does so because he
knows that he has received mercy before: it was the Lord who had mercy on
him”. And “if we do these things, it is
because the Lord has had pity on us: let us think about our sins, our mistakes,
and how the Lord has forgiven us, has forgiven us for everything; he has had
this mercy”. Therefore, the Pope recommended, “let us at least do the same for
our brothers and sisters”. This is the
essence of “the works of mercy”.

“I would like to add another thing”,
Francis continued, “that is not explicit but implicit in the passage we have
read: works of mercy, performing works of mercy, is inconvenient”. One might think,
“I have a sick friend, I would like to visit him or her, but I am not in the
mood; I prefer to rest, or watch tv, in peace...”. Because “performing works of
mercy means always being subjected to inconvenience”. This sort of work “is
discomforting, but the Lord suffered discomfort for us: he went to the cross,
to give us mercy”.

In conclusion, the Pontiff called for
reflection “today on the works of mercy”. And above all, he suggested, “let us
remember them: there are 14, seven corporal and seven spiritual” works of
mercy. And with a smile, he reassured those in the chapel at Santa Marta: “I
will not ask here: ‘Who knows what the works of mercy are, raise your hand’; I
won’t ask it, because I’m afraid only a
few hands would be raised”. But the Pope
recommended that the faithful not miss the opportunity to find ways to perform
the works of mercy: of course, by remembering “what they are”, but also by
asking themselves, “‘Do I do this? Do I know how to share, do I know how to
feel compassion? Do I take risks? Do I accept inconvenience in order to perform
a work of mercy?’”.

This is an important matter, the Pope
added, because “the works of mercy are what rid us of selfishness and lead us
to imitate Jesus more closely”. And it does not matter if “someone might make
fun of us and say, ‘this person is crazy, the things he does instead of being
comfortable...’”. It is not important, said Francis, “let it go”. But “today let us take some time — it will be
good for us all — to think about the works of mercy and to ask ourselves: Do I
do this?”.